[VERVE]

Originally Posted by JayP

I don't think you understand. Yes, in the end the player can do what they want. That's obvious. As I've said, there's no recourse from the MLBPA. That's a very different thing from applying pressure to the players that undervaluing yourself will have an impact on your peer's contract negotiations and that players before them have made sacrifices that are putting them in this situation. Sure, the players can ignore that and sign whatever they want, but do you honestly think most guys are just shrugging that off?

And like I said, the article headline states one thing, but everytime the union leader gets quoted he keeps going back to "but understand that this is going to have an impact on other guys". When someone makes a statement and always follows it up with a "but" clarification, usually it's the clarification that's important.



Well, for starters, we are talking about David Price, not average or fringe players.

Second, several of these are players (Wieters, Rasmus) accepting qualifying offers which is completely different since it isn't a contract negotiation.

Third, most of these players had draft pick compensation attached to them which does have a impact on their value.

But most importantly of all, which of these players took a hometown discount? That was the point at hand. Obviously, players do sign contracts before their free agency begins - no one is disputing that. But the point you and others are claiming is that players take hometown deals before free agency begins because it's the only offer on the table. None of these deals have anything to do with that.

I understand completely. You are arguing that players will get subtle "looks" from MLBPA if they sign for less. Who really knows if players really pay attention to those innuendos. Most of them may shrug it off. We do not have any evidence they have to tow the company line. I am arguing the MLBPA main issues of concern are a lot different than what you stated. Again, they are more concern about such things as players taking pay cuts on existing contracts, misrepresentations and collusions by owners and not at a player who is willing to sign for less than the current market value if he so chooses. I gave the example of Cliff Lee leaving 30 million $ on the table to sign with the Phillies and not the Yankees.

The examples I gave you were people signing with their current teams before hitting free agency. Who knows what the market values at status quo were for each player. Correct me if I am wrong but any team may choose to avoiding qualifying offers and proceed to contract negotiations before free agency. Estrada signed for less than the qualifying offer (per year) but received security instead (and he wanted to stay in Toronto). Price was exempt from a qualifying offer because of late trade but he could have signed here for less but no one will know for sure ‘cause no offer was given.